Full Moon Hike by Julie Steimle (ebook e reader TXT) 📕

But the ranger called back to us, nodding more gratefully as she said, “They found them and are now escorting them out of the campground. Thank you. You’ve done us a service.”

I tried to smile back, but I really just wanted us to go back down the hill and take the freeway to the nearest sandy beach with good surf. Instead I trudged out of the rangers’ office and leaned on the car, waiting for Dad to finish registering. The forest rangers with the three men passed by, I watched the hunters struggle in their grips. One ranger carried their confiscated hunting rifles with a nod to us. Unfortunately that drew the eyes of the hunters onto Dawn and me.

“What was that all about?” Dawn asked, nudging me.

I just shrugged.

“Eve just stopped three hunters from sneaking onto the wildlife reserve,” Will said coming out of the lodge.

Dawn stared back at him and blinked. She had that cherubic blonde airhead look about her when she did that, but I knew her better. She was probably annoyed. As she made a face at me I knew she was. “You can’t just mind your own business?”

“We’re hiking up that mountain, Dawn,” Will said, shaking his head at her and patting the trunk as if he could open it without the key to take out our packs. “You don’t want people shooting guns near us, do you?”

“I should say not.” Travis produced the keys. He had taken from our mother who was resting on the stoop.

Dad walked out not long after with all the registration documents in hand. He trotted to the back of the car. “Ok. Do you kids want to ride up to the cabin with your mom and me and then go hiking? Or do you want to start here? The beginning of the trail is right there.”

He pointed over where I had seen the three men heading into the trees.

Dawn looked like she’d rather stay in the cabin, but Will jabbed her in the side and spoke for us all. “We’ll start here.”

Travis opened the trunk. Each of us reached in and took our individual packs, all ready for the hike. My dad was like that. He planned out the entire vacation from start to finish. Hike up the first day. Reach the summit the second and hike down that afternoon. That evening we were to rest and clean up in the cabin where there was a shower and running water. The following day we were to go on a short nature walk as an entire family to the lake, something my mother preferred to long hikes. The last day we planned to go into the canyon and take pictures with us as a group. My mother liked having pictures of us in sunny cheerful places, preferably with lots of green around. That was also one of the reasons why we never really went to the beach on family vacations. She didn’t like the sand. The long stretches of it and the flat ocean made her feel lonely, she said.

Will took the canteens to the ranger’s cabin, searching for a waterspout or hand pump.

Our mother rose up from the stoop and walked to where we were heaving on our packs. She acted like she was bidding us farewell for a long journey, hugging Travis then Dawn, whispering something in her ear before turning to me. She said as she embraced me. “Eve, we love you.  Which is why we are bringing you here and not the beach.”

I stiffened, wondering how taking me to the middle of nowhere far from the ocean was showing that she loved me.

“We know you have been wanting to stretch your wings, and if you’d sit still to listen long enough you’re realize that in a crowded beach you would not be able to.” She then pulled back to look me in the face. “Honey, darling…my sweet Eve, please, try and have a good time. Nothing can hurt you out there, and I don’t know how it will be when we return home.”

A shiver ran over my skin, realizing I was at last hearing the truth.

“We may have to move,” my mother said.

“Move?” Tears burned in my eyes. “All because of me?”

“Not because of you,” my father replied, putting an arm around me. “Because of them. We can’t live in an intolerant neighborhood.”

“Dad, I’m a monster,” I said, wiping my eyes.

He put his face in mine, nose to nose. “I don’t want to hear you say that, Eve.”

“Fine, a demon then.” I stepped back. “What difference does it make? We’re going to have to move because of me.”

“Our town sucks anyway,” Dawn said, rolling her eyes. “I say we move to San Francisco. The people there will accept just about anybody.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “I doubt they’d accept a blood sucking monster that—”

“I said not to say that.” Our father stepped between us, halting the argument that was about to start. “First of all, you have not hurt a soul in town. No one has the right to call you such names, especially you. Secondly, we are not leaving our home without a fight. They have nothing to stand on except their own ignorance and fear. And thirdly, Eve, you have got to get out of this slump you are in. Quit hanging on the doom and gloom that those ignorant jerks are trying to make you feel. That kid, Michael Toms, gave you his seal of approval. I think that is enough proof that you are not a danger to society.”

But I tilted my head and lowered my sunglasses so that my orange eyes looked directly into his. “Dad, Michael Toms is a first class weirdo who is also a menace to society. The fact that he thinks that he is number eight of the Holy Seven should be sign enough.”

However, he knew that I knew what he was talking about. In reality, I was closer to a vegetarian than my father was, I hated conflict, and I was a follower of the rules. The nickname ‘goody-goody’ Eve was one that had been attributed to me along with ‘creepy’ and ‘freak’ for years. The only way we would truly have to move would be if the town got a new dentist to replace my father. He was the only one in town.

My mother hugged me again, and so did my father. They then patted Will on the back and charged him to lead us safely, though I am sure my mother reminded him also to make doubly sure I put on more sunblock after the hour. I usually put on the high SPF lotion on every two hours, but the sun was said to be hotter in the mountains.

Each of us headed to the hiking trail and followed Will up after he had passed us our full canteens.

“We’re off,” he said, and smiled to show his enthusiasm.

After the first half hour of the hike I was ready for a rest. So was Dawn. Travis looked winded, but he kept waving for us to keep going, at least until we got to the first campground. Along the path were markings showing how far we had come, also marking how far to the summit we had to go. The first campground was still a good way in. The map Dad gave to Will showed that there were only five campgrounds on that particular hiking path. Will intended for us to stop at the fourth one for the night, but by the time we reached the first I was thinking we just ought to stop at the second one and pretend we went up to the summit the following day.

“You baby!” Will said playfully. “I thought you were athletic.”

I stuck my tongue out at him, pulling off my baseball cap to wave it in front of my face. Seeing me do that, he reached into his side pocket and tossed me the sunblock.

“Put it on,” he said. “If you’re sweating, you’re losing cover.”

“It’s waterproof,” I answered him, but I did as he told me. I learned ages ago not to skimp on the sun-block. I burned way too easily. Squeezing the lotion into my hands, I then rubbed them together, looking around as I first smeared the lotion on my face, covering my ears and the back of my neck the most.

The path really was quite pretty. After I had gotten used to the strong pine scent and the thick oxygen-filled air, it was much easier to take in the scenery. The sky through the trees was a pure pale blue. The few clouds that were in the sky were thin and fluffy, like someone had shredded a cotton ball so that it was webby. I tilted my head with wonder that I thought of spider webs while looking at them, but Dawn nudged me to continue on.

We reached the second campground well after noon. Though we had already been munching on our trail mix and granola bars, we stopped to eat our packed egg salad sandwiches, resting our legs and our feet.

Peering at the fire pit that had only ashy remains of someone’s campfire, Will walked around it, thinking. He then looked to Travis and me. “I think we ought to collect dry wood while we walk up to our camping site.”

“I am not carrying wood along with my pack up that hill,” Dawn said, shaking her head at him and setting her hands on her hips.

“I wasn’t talking to you, lazy. I already knew you wouldn’t help.” Will then walked back to me who was actually thinking the same as Dawn, though we did not often agree. “Unless you want to do all the wood gathering when we get up there, we can start now.”

Travis gave a shrug. “I’d rather wait.”

“Me too,” I said at last, raising a hand.

Dawn grinned at us then turned to Will with triumph. We didn’t often out-vote Will. Usually it was the other way around.

Rolling his eyes and slumping his shoulders, he exhaled. “Fine. We’ll gather wood when we get to camp. I just don’t want us going too far off the path. It is a wildlife reserve and there are wild animals running about.”

“Nothing in this forest could possibly be scarier than Eve,” Travis said, though Dawn actually peered over her shoulder to search for a bear or a wolf. I, myself, wondered if it was cougar country, imagining how I could actually fight off one of those dangerous mountain lions if they came onto the camp. Looking at my hands where at one point claws had formed when I was in desperate need, I noticed how thin my ordinary fingernails were. No way was I really capable of fighting off every animal that existed.

I started to pick up some pieces of dry wood. Will broke into a laugh, watching Dawn practically jump to help me. Only Travis stared at me like he thought I was just trying to be funny. He didn’t find it so amusing.

Between the second and third campground I noticed three other hikers were in the woods but not on any path. I could hardly